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#Royal Irish Constabulary
stairnaheireann · 1 month
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#OTD in 1922 – An Garda Síochána | Guardians of the Peace of Ireland is founded.
Prior to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921, Ireland was policed by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police. Needless to say, due to their loyalty to the old British regime and their association with the Auxilliaries and Black and Tans, the RIC was totally unacceptable to the vast majority of Irish people it was therefore a necessity to form a new…
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Episode 60 - the RIC, Auxiliaries, and Black and Tans During the Irish War of Independence
One of England’s main tools of colonization in Ireland was the police. Learn how England first police force was created in Ireland and why England switched to relying on paramilitary units instead of the local police during the Irish War of Independence. Take part in the ⁠week-long global strike for Palestine⁠ ⁠Join my Patreon⁠ Follow me on ⁠Instagram ⁠and ⁠Tiktok⁠ Continue reading Untitled
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fairydollsteps · 6 months
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STRESS RELIEF (MINOR DNI)
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Synopsis: As expected of his job as the Fortress of Meropide's Administrator, Wriothesley is often buried with piles of paperwork and cases to solve which cause him a lot of stress. Luckily, you have a solution to help destress him.
Feature: Bottom Wriothesley/ Top!Male!Reader
Note/Warning: Smut, making out on bed, overstimulation, use of toy (we going to destroy this man), big fuck machine toy, some crying and pain, bondage (shibari), very rough intercourse, reader is kinda mean is you like it.
Author's note: is surprising to see very less bottom!wriothesley fic because i want him the one screaming. anyway here is smth to feed you all after months of disappearing:)
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Fontaine has fallen into the night. The shadows enveloped the beautifully intricate buildings in pitch black. In the reflection of the moon and stars, the water that surrounds the city shimmers. All the townfolk have fallen into a slumber as birdsong fills the air softly like a gentle goodnight. This evening, Fontaine has draped itself in the tranquility of sleep. Except for Wriothesley and you.
Inside the home of both of you lies a naked Wriothesley on his bed, confined and tied into a shibari. He is utterly immobile to move from all the ropes that constrain his muscular body. Red velvet ropes are everywhere and strapping his body down on the bed. His hands and arms are tied firmly behind him as he lies on his back on the bed. His chest is heaving up and down against the ropes and his thighs are bound as well on the edge of the bed, spreading his legs apart.
Wriothesley is feeling multiple emotions at once in his chest. Nervous, excited, and mostly stressed of course. These days, work has become more burdensome than ever before. More dangerous criminals are spotted in Fontaine and more meetings with the Royal Irish Constabulary and blah blah. Nonetheless, his work has kept him for so long that he has forgotten when was the last time he had sex with you. So when you drag him out of his office table and offer some relief, he is quick to accept.
However, he has never expected you to expose him in such a revealing and humiliating way.
Wriothesley attempts closing his legs together against the ropes which to no avail. "Goddam, Y/N. You are cruel," Wriothesley sighs, wondering how is this stress-relieving. The ropes are tight but not too tight to hurt him. Is his first time trying something like this. Then, you finally come in the room with something Wriothesley couldn't latch on due to the restraints of the ropes. Is big. That is all he knows.
"Hello, my dearest," You greet him in a sweet tone, admiring your handiwork. Wriothesley stares at you, curious about whatever you have brought as you sit down at the edge of the bed, still in awe at the sight of him all spread out for you. "Was it too tight for you?" You asked, making sure Wriothesley was comfortable and keeping the stuff you brought hidden from him.
"I can handle it," Wriothesley said in a straight voice but you could tell he was nervous and excited from his blush adorning his face and chest. Your lips curved into a pleased smile and said. "That's good then. I do hope you can handle more than I expected since the night will be long," You get up from the bed as Wriothesley stares at you with a confused look.
"What do you mean?" He asked, slightly writhing against the ropes.
Wriothesley can see you letting out a soft chuckle from his attempt which he slightly scowls at you. You let out soft coos to him and lean over him with an affectionate but playful smile caressing his cheeks gently which Wriothesley can't help but snuggle against your palm contently. Wriothesley relaxed against your touch and he could feel your breath against his ears.
"I did promise you I would fucked you like you want to," You whisper to his ears slyly before you cover his eyes with a blindfold which is something you both have discussed about it before. Fuck that was hot.
Wriothesley gulps as he can hear your footsteps and you hopping over him. He can't see anything. His vision is taken from him and everything is pitch black. Before he could think more, his body jolt with a shiver when he could feel your hand touching his naked cock. "Y-Y/N?-" Wriothesley almost whimper, lifting his head to you forgetting about the ropes only to get pulled down.
"Relax, my dearest. Just relax. You have worked so hard. This is your reward," You purred at him, looking at him and then his beautiful cock. You have lubed your hand and begin jerking his dick off, making Wriothesley beneath you letting out muffled moans. You can't help but smile wickedly. This is only the beginning.
Then, you lubed your finger and began touching his hole. Wriotheslet hitch his breath from the contact. It has not been a full 5 minutes and his body is already shaking. "I have barely touched you and you are already this wet?" You tease him devilishly. His cock already leaking precum which was used as more lube to finger him. "It has been a while huh?"
Wriothesley let out a soft cry when one finger slid in easily. Then another finger which let out a few 'ahs!' and 'ohs!' from him. Then another. Three fingers in. Everything was going too quick but Wriothesley fucking loved it. "I-Is this all you got?" Wriothesley said through ragged breathing, oblivious of what was to come.
"Just you wait. I don't break promises," You begin thrusting your fingers deeper into his prostate. You could tell he was enjoying it when his inside clenched around your fingers eagerly. The feeling is so good that his hip starts moving slightly (due to the restraints) on his own, thrusting back to your fingers which intensifies the pleasure more. "Fuckk……..!!!!" Wriothesley moans loudly as your fingers massage his prostate.
His cock leaks more precum and you know he is about to reach his high so you pulled out your fingers abruptly. Wriothesley let out shocked gasps and whines from the loss. "W-what was that-?" His cries out of frustration from the edging but his voice is shaky from his lost incoming climax.
Then, he screams.
Wriotheslet screams as he could feel something railing into his ass. He didn't know what it was (because of the blindfold) but it was big. So fucking big. Only you know. Is a fuck toy machine. That was the object you have kept hidden from Wriothesley as a surprise. But he doesn't have to know. You grinned wickedly as his body convulse violently as the fuck toy goes deeper into him. It's only halfway through and he looks like he could passed out.
Wriothesley let out loud lewd moans and pleads. "Y/N-! Is too much…! Is too fucking big-AHHH FUCKKK…!!!!!!" The dildo is finally fully in. Wriothesley writhes and whimpers underneath you, trying to adjust to the humongous size of the fuck toy. His hard twitching cock spilled precum, dirtying the sheets and your pants. Wriothesley quivers against the ropes which is no help but heightens his sensitivity and pleasure. He is close to tears from how high the pleasure is. The stretch burns like hell but it feels so fucking good to be stuffed full.
His chest heaves up and down with deep breathing as he tries to calm himself down before losing himself. And here you are on top of him smirking like a devil you are. "That was just the start," you said cruelly before pressing the start button. The fuck toy machine starts thrusting him out at a much slower pace for the sake of his comfort. Wriothesley throws his head back, whining as he cries out of your name. His thighs are trembling at every thrust and his cock spasming violently.
You have noticed that Wriothesley has adjusted well to the humongous dildo and even thrust it back with his hips, letting out a soft cry and moans. Then, he reached his climax and came hard with a scream. His body convulse from how intense the orgasm is. Wriothesley tries to take a few deep breaths but realizes you did not stop the toy. Instead, you increase the volume of it.
"Oh, AAA-aArcHons-!! HNGHAAAAA……!!! P-please stop!!! Stop-" Wriothesley screams from overstimulation before he succumbs to another round of hard fucking from the toy. He just came and he could already feel the core of his stomach tightening again with burning passion. Oh fuck fuck fuck. He is going to come again after a few seconds earlier from cumming. The blindfold is already wet from his tears and he even drooling a bit, showing how he is losing control over his withered body. It's too much as he tries to run away from the pleasure but the ropes and your hands on hips keep him from running away.
His body convulses again as a thick rope of cum then spurts out, soiling his stomach and your abdomen. Eyes rolling back and jaw slack, Wriothesley screams from the euphoric shock. Looking at him, you can't help but bite your lips at how utterly destroyed and gorgeous Wriothesley is.
And oh how so sexy the sight before you. Wriothesley, the strict and hard-working Administrator all crumbled against your mercy and spread out for you while being tied up into a shibari beautifully. Much to Wriothesley's relief, you stop the fuck toy machine from fucking him anymore and lean in close to his face.
"You still conscious, my dearest?" You coo at him. Wriothesley whines when you crash into his lips passionately before letting out a shriek when you accidentally move the fuck toy that is still inside him. "Sorry sorry sorry," you apologize to him sweetly while taking off his blindfolds.
Wriothesley looks at you with teary eyes, wanting to hug but forgetting about the restraints. You smile sweetly at his attempt while caressing his tear-soaked cheeks before asking.
"Again?"
The night is long and you got to reward him more after all.
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workingclasshistory · 9 months
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On this day, 28 June 1830, Joseph Grantham became the first officer of the new London Metropolitan Police to be killed in the line of duty, in an incident which was later deemed to be "justifiable homicide". Grantham tried to stop a fight between two drunk men in Somers Town, North London, and was then kicked to death. At the subsequent inquest, the jury determined that his killing was "justifiable" and that Grantham himself was responsible due to "over exertion in the discharge of his duty". The Met were the world's first modern, professional police force, created in 1829 and based in part on the experiences of the Royal Irish Constabulary, responsible for enforcing British colonial rule in Ireland. They were specifically designed to control the growing numbers of working class people, and break up strikes and demonstrations ideally without massacring people – as occurred in Peterloo 10 years prior, and which caused protests to escalate. As such, they were extremely unpopular, especially in working class areas of London, where a popular game for children was to hide in doorways until an officer walked past, at which point they would throw a brick or stone at him. Other police forces began to be created elsewhere, often by colonial authorities. For example in Kenya, the first police force was created by the Imperial British East Africa Company to protect their stores, and other police forces were established across the British empire. After colonised countries gained independence, in most cases police forces remained relatively intact. In the United States, the first forces in the North were set up to control working class crowds. In the South, many forces emerged from slave patrols, which were responsible for pursuing enslaved people who escaped, and deterring resistance by doling out brutal violence and terror. If you appreciate our historical work, please consider supporting us and accessing exclusive content here: https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=651804640326088&set=a.602588028581083&type=3
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postoctobrist · 1 year
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You know what sucks? The ‘Irish 8’ design of handcuffs. First produced at the beginning of the nineteenth century, they were the first handcuffs issued to the Metropolitan Police of London in about 1832. The ‘Irish’ part of the name probably comes from them also being issued to the notorious Royal Irish Constabulary, by the way. They look like this:
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Which is to say, amazing. They’re way more restrictive but also aesthetic than modern handcuffs with a bar or a chain between the wrists. They look great in a stack, too:
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You may already have noticed the problems, though. Firstly, they’re not adjustable like handcuffs with a ratcheting mechanism are, so they have to be the right size. But secondly, none of them use a standard handcuff key. Which is a serious safety issue, because you can’t be looking for your obscure special keys in an emergency and cutting these off a person is significantly more dangerous. You can get versions made that lock with a padlock or even a wingnut, but they’re the jankiest, most homemade shit you’ve ever seen:
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or 3D printed, which amounts to the same thing:
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So my plea to handcuff manufacturers (mostly KUB in Pakistan, who still makes and issues them): please give me a version of the beautiful handcuffs that opens with a normal handcuff key. Please. I need it, for sex nerd reasons.
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blitheringmcgonagall · 2 months
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@breathing-and-stuff @jfleamont and @practicecourts all requested a snippet from The Big House AU, I think it’ll be called One Star Awake (from the song “She Moved Through the Fair”) 💚🤍🧡
it’s set in the war of independence against the Brits in Ireland in 1920… the bad guys are the local evil landlord Orion Black and the Royal Irish Constabulary main police guy Snape (shock horror etc). Lily is a farmer’s daughter, Sirius is the usual wayward son of the bad landlord, Remus is a poor primary school teacher, James is a rich fellow back home in Ireland on holidays from university in Cambridge.
Very interestingly I just found out that the RIC uniforms were very dark green with a silver belt and the buckle was a silver snake 😱!!?! Can’t get much more appropriate than that?
Anyway, as promised, here’s a snippet of Sirius being difficult with the RIC officers:
‘So you have no idea where those IRA men might be hiding?’ the District Inspector asked again, eyes roaming the room suspiciously.
‘None whatsoever,’ Lord Grimmauld replied, reclining back on the chaise longue with his arms outstretched.
‘I was told you’re friendly with some of the rebels.’ The officer pressed him. ‘That you might be involved in some of these attacks on Slytherin House.’
‘My dear fellow, I’m hardly going to set fire to my own inheritance, am I? Despite appearances, we are not all complete imbeciles.’ He laughed, grey eyes twinkling with amusement.
The man pulled at his high stand collar in evident frustration. One got the impression he did not like the aristocrat’s condescending, amused tone.
‘We’ll be going then, Sir,’ the other officer said, looking warily between his senior and the duke’s eldest son.
‘You might want to note that you are a person of interest as far as the Royal Irish Constabulary is concerned, Lord Grimmauld. We shall be keeping a vey close eye on you.’ The man pulled at his belt, fiddling with the silver snake buckle.
‘A person of interest? I should hope so, District Inspector Second Class, I’ve never been considered tedious in my entire life, I should hate to start now.’ The aristocrat looked mildly affronted.
The man muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like God give me strength.
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urbexhub · 2 years
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𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Parkmore Railway Station was originally built to transport iron ore to the nearby town of Ballymena before it would be shipped to England.
Tourists would also use this line to explore the nearby Glens of Antrim.
In 1921, 6 members of the IRA held up the train and stole mailbags that contained mail for the nearby Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in Cushendall.
The station closed for good in October 1930. Full report here: https://urbexhub.com/parkmore-railway-station/
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brookstonalmanac · 29 days
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Events 2.28
202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty. 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes. 1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés. 1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh. 1835 – Elias Lönnrot signed and dated the first version of the Kalevala, the so-called foreword to the Old Kalevala. 1844 – A gun explodes on board the steam warship USS Princeton during a pleasure cruise down the Potomac River, killing six, including Secretary of State Abel Upshur. President John Tyler, who was also on board, was not injured from the blast. 1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. 1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America. 1947 – February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the death of an estimated 28,000 civilians. 1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history. 1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit. 1966 – A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett. 1969 – The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco. 1974 – The British election ended in a hung parliament after the Jeremy Thorpe-led Liberal Party achieved their biggest vote. 1975 – In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people. 1983 – The final episode of MAS*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers. 1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers. 1986 – Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm. 1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh starting a 51-day standoff. 1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 1,100 deaths. 1997 – A Turkish military memorandum resulted with collapse of the government in Turkey. 2001 – The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in the southern Puget Sound, damages Seattle metropolitan area. 2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, 97 people are killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in the Gulbarg Society massacre. 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415. 2023 – Two trains collide south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people and leaving 58 missing and 85 injured.
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aoawarfare · 8 months
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Recap of the Irish War of Independence
One cannot talk about or understand the Irish Civil War without understanding the Irish War of Independence. In fact, I’ve seen more and more historians argue that we can think of the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War as one big civil war, since the Royal Irish Constabulary, the IRA’s main enemy before the Black and Tans arrived, were Irish themselves and IRA intimidated, harassed, and executed Irish people who they considered “informers and traitors.” Additionally, many of the hopes, dreams, and aspirations initiated by the women’s liberation moment of 1912, the Lockout of 1913, and Easter Rising were further refined by the Irish War of Independence, and contributed to the violent schism in Irish Society following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. These aspirations and goals would further be redefined by the Irish Civil War with participants of all sides feeling like they lost more than they gained from the entire affair.
Thus, why I feel it’s important to recap the major events of the Irish War of Independence
Leading Up to the Irish War of Independence
Ireland has always been a place of debate, uprisings, and desire for change, but in the early 1900s there were three movements that paved the way for the Irish War of Independence: the Suffragette Movement of 1912, the Gaelic Revival, the 1913 Lockout, the Home Rule Campaign and Easter Rising. I’ve discussed all four movements in great detail in the first season, but in summary, the Suffragette Movement, the Gaelic Revival, and the 1913 Lockout created an environment of mass organizing and brought together many activists and future revolutionaries. The Home Rule Campaign, combined with WWI, created the conditions for a violent uprising.
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Charles Parnell
[Image description: A black and white photo of a white man with a high forehead and a thick, round beard. He is wearing a white button down and black tie and a grey double breast jacket.]
British Prime Minister Gladstone introduced the concept of Home Rule in 1880, with support from one of Ireland’s most famous statesmen: Charles Parnell. The entire purpose of Home Rule was to grant Ireland its own Parliament with seats available to both the Catholic majority and the Protestant minority and current power brokers). However, Parnell destroyed support for Home Rule by being involved in a messy and scandalous divorce and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), the precursor to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), scared the British government with their terrorist attacks. Home Role went through another failed iteration, but John Redmond was confident he would get the third iteration passed. This newest iteration was introduced to Parliament in 1914 and have created a bicameral Irish Parliament in Dublin, abolished Dublin Castle (the center of British power in Ireland), and continued to allow a portion of Irish MPs to sit in Parliament. It was supported by many nationalists in Ireland, barely tolerated by the Asquith Administration, and despised by the Unionists.
The Unionists believed they had a reason to worry. They had not forgotten the Protestants slaughtered during the 1798 Uprising nor the power they lost through the machinations of O’Connell and Parnell. Facing a massive change in their lives should Home Rule pass, the Unionists took a page out of the physical force book and created their own paramilitary organization: the Ulster Volunteers. The Asquith government knew of the Ulster Volunteers, their gun smuggling, and their drilling, but did nothing except delay Home Rule as long as possible.
Asquith’s delaying tactics and the creation of the Ulster Volunteers made Irish Nationalists nervous and they took matters into their own hand. Arthur Griffith, an Irish writer, politician, and the source of inspiration for many young rebels created the political party, Sinn Fein. Griffith argued for a dual monarchy approach, similar to the Austrian-Hungary model. He believed Ireland and England should be separate nations, united under a single monarchy. He also introduced the concept of parliamentary absenteeism i.e., Sinn Fein was a political party that would never sit in British Parliament, because the parliament was illegitimate.
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Eoin MacNeill
[Image description: A black and white picture of a tall man in a courtyard. He has a high forehead, wire frame glasses, and a shortly trimmed beard. He is standing with his hands behind his back holding a hat. He is wearing a white button down, a tie, a vest, and a suit jacket and grey pants.]
In response to the Ulster Volunteers, Eoin McNeill and Bulmer Hobson created the Irish Volunteers. Both men believed that the Irish wouldn’t stand a chance in an uprising against the British government and their best bet was to trust Redmond to pass Home Rule. The Irish Volunteers were created in order to defend their community from Unionist attacks. Things were tense in Ireland, but it seemed that parliamentary politics could save the day and the extremists would be pushed to the sidelines.
Then World War I began.
The British used the war to pass Home Rule but delay it taking affect for another three years. To add insult to injury, John Redmond encouraged young Irishmen to enlist in the British Army and fight for the Empire. McNeill and Hobson tried to convince its members to continue to trust Redmond, although they were angry that he was recruiting for the war. Yet, there was a handful of Irish Volunteers, who were also members of the resurrected IRB believed England’s difficulty, Irish opportunity.
They were Tom Clarke, Sean MacDiarmada, Padraig Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, Eamonn Ceannt, and Joseph Plunkett. These men, plus James Connolly of the Irish Citizen Army, would sign the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and it would serve as their death warrant.
They knew they would not be able to win without arms and support, so, keeping their plans to themselves, they sent Roger Casement to Germany to present their plans for a German invasion that would coincide with an Irish rising. The Germans rejected this plan (maybe remembering what happened in 1798, when the French made a similar landing, weeks after a massive Irish uprising), but promised to send arms.
The Irish Volunteers were often seen drilling and practicing for some vague rebellion, so it wasn’t suspicious to the authorities or to MacNeil and Hobson to see units marching around. When Pearse issued orders for parade practice on April 23rd, Easter Sunday, MacNeil and Hobson took it at face value while those in the know, knew what it really meant. This surreal arrangement would not last for long and the committee’s secrecy nearly destroyed the very rising it was trying to inspire.
The first bit of trouble was Roger Casement’s arrest. The Germans were less than supportive of the uprising, and Casement boarded the ship Aud to return to Ireland to either stop or postpone the rising. However, when he arrived in Ireland on either April 21st or 22nd, he was pick up by British police and placed in jail.
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Pearse Surrenders
[Image description: A faded black and white photo of three men standing on a street in Dublin. There are two man on the left and they are wearing the khaki cap and uniform of the British army. On the right is a man wearing a wide brim hat and a long black jacket]
Then MacNeil and Hobson had their worst suspicions confirmed-Pearse and his comrades were secretly planning a rebellion without their support. MacNeill vowed to do everything (except going to the authorities) to prevent the Rising and sent out a counter-order, canceling the drills scheduled for Sunday. This counter-order took an already confused situation and turned it into a bewildering disaster. Units formed as ordered by Pearse and dispersed with great puzzlement and some anger and frustration. Pearse and his comrades met to discuss their next steps and decided the die had been cast. There was no other choice except to try again tomorrow, Monday, 24th, April 1916.
Easter Rising was concentrated in Dublin with a few units causing trouble on the city’s outskirts. The Irish rebels fought from Monday to Friday, surrendering Friday morning. The leaders of the rising were murdered, but many future IRA leaders such as Eamon DeValera, Michael Collins, Richard Mulcahy, Constance Markievicz, Liam Lynch, and others survived. They were sent to several different prisons, the most famous being Frongoch where Collins was held. The IRB turned it into a revolutionary academy and practiced their organizing and resistance skills while formalizing connections and relationships. When they were released starting in December 1916, they were ready to take those skills back to Ireland.
Creation of the IRA and the Dail
Their approach was two pronged: winning elections and rebuilding the Irish Volunteers/ Irish Republican Brotherhood.
When the prisoners were released, the Irish population went from hating them for launching a useless rebellion to cheering their return. The English helped flame the revolutionary spirit in Ireland by proclaiming Easter Rising a “Sinn Fein” rebellion and arresting many Sinn Fein members who had nothing to do with the Rising. This made it clear Sinn Fein was the revolutionary party while John Redmond’s party was out of touch.
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Eamon de Valera
[Image description: A black and white photo of a white man with a sharp nose and large, circular glasses. He has black hair and is wearing a white button down shirt, a polka dotted tie, and a grey suit.]
Sinn Fein ran several candidates such as Eamon DeValera, Michael Collins, and Thomas Ashe. Ashe would be arrested while campaigning and charged with sedition. While in jail, he went on hunger strike and was killed during a force feeding. Following an Irish tradition, Sinn Fein and the IRB turned Ashe’s funeral into a political lightning rod. They organized the funeral procession, the three-volley salute, and Collins spoke over Ashe’s grave: “There will be no oration. Nothing remains to be said, for the volley which has been fired is the only speech it is proper to make above the grave of a dead Fenian.”
On October 26th, 1917, Sinn Fein would hold their first national convention. During the convention, Eamon DeValera replaced Arthur Griffith as president and Sinn Fein dedicated itself to Irish independence with the promise that after independence was achieved the Irish people could elect its own form of government. However, there was still tension between those who believed in passive non-violence and the militant Sixteeners. 1917-1918 was spent building a bridge between parliamentary politics and militant politics of the 1920s, with Sinn Fein’s large young membership pushing it in a more militant direction.
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Constance Markievicz
[Image description: A sepia tone photo of a white woman looking to her right. She is leaning against a stool and holds a revolver. She wears a wide brim hat with black feathers and flowers. She has short hair. She is wear a military button down short and suspenders.]
Sinn Fein was also breaking social conventions, even though Cumann na mBan was still an auxiliary unit, Sinn Fein would allow four ladies on the Sinn Fein Executive and would run two women in the 1918 election-Constance Markievicz and Winifred Carney, with Markievicz becoming the first women to win a seat in parliament. Many of its supporters and campaigners were also women. In fact, many men would complain in 1917 and later that the women were more radical than the men. Cumann na mBan fully embraced the 1916 Proclamation and even had Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington deliver a message to President Wilson in 1918, asking him to recognize the Irish Republic. Cumann na mBan took the front line in the anti-recruitment campaign and the police boycott and the anti-conscription movement. Like the Volunteers, Cumann na mBan believed they were a military unit, although they never got arms for themselves and worked closely with Volunteer units and Sinn Fein clubs.
Irish Volunteers and IRB
While Sinn Fein was slowly rebuilding itself, the Irish Volunteers were also being resurrected from the ashes. It started with local initiatives led by men like Ernest Blythe, Eoin O’Duffy, and Sean Treacy. Units popped up in local communities, organized and armed by their local leaders and eventually contacting GHQ which consisted of men like Collins, Mulcahy, and Brugha. While local units were rebuilding themselves, Collins was using the IRB to form a strict corps of officers, a growing source of personal power as well as military power that men like Brugha and De Valera (who were IRB during Easter Rising, but renounced their membership after the rising failed) distrusted.
GHQ issued an order saying that units should only listen to orders coming from their own executive (in order to prevent the order-counter-order disaster that doomed Easter Rising) and swore the Volunteers would only be ordered into the field if commanders were confident of victory. No forlorn battles. Mulcahy, as Chief of Staff, worked hard to instill a military spirit and discipline into the Volunteers while understanding that their most effective unit at the moment was the company and local initiative. (The companies would expand into battalions and brigades as the war progressed, but the fighting and tactics would remain local and territorial) So, while trying to act like a regular army and expecting the Volunteers to respect their officers and GHQ, he also had to allow for local improvisation as well as trust the local executives to have control over their soldiers. It was a difficult balancing act he would struggle to maintain during the entire Anglo-Irish War and into the Irish Civil War and the formation of the Free Irish State.
The Irish Volunteers convention on October 26th, 1917, elected DeValera as president, Brugha as the chairman of the executive with Collins as director of organization and Mulcahy as director of training, Liam Lynch as Director of Communications, Staines, Director of Supply and Treasurer, O’Connor director of engineering.
All of this work could have been for nothing if the British hadn’t handed the IRA the greatest gift in the world: the 1918 conscription crisis.
Lightning Rod Issues
Food Shortage 1917-1918
Before conscription was the food shortages in the winter of 1917-1918. The shortage was created because of food being exported to Britain, invoking memories of the terrible famine. Sinn Fein could not stop all of the food being exported, but they did what they could to protest this newest version of starvation. For example, a member of Sinn Fein, Diarmund Lynch took thirty pigs meant to for exportation, killed them, and shared the food with hard hit families, earning him deportation to America, but becoming a local folk hero and increasing Sinn Fein’s prestige.
There were also agrarian tensions because grazers (those who used farmland for their cows to graze instead of growing crops) were given preference to available land so the Congested Districts Board could maximize profits. While this makes sense, it added to the great unease in the land, especially as the food shortage grew more acute.
The IPP grew out of the Land Wars of 1880s and Sinn Fein, ever aware of Irish history, decided it would be no different. It joined in the fight for land, arguing that all the ranch land should be broken up evenly. All over the country, Sinn Fein created commission to break up the land and figure out the pricing as well as organizing mass occupation of available land, but ranchers refused to acknowledge the prices Sinn Fein proposed.
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1917 Electoral Victory March
[Image description: A black and white photo of several men and women marching together through a park with several tall green trees and a cobblestone wall. Leading the crowd are three men in long coats and wide brim hats playing bagpipes. Everyone else is wearing long coats, suit coats, or dresses and hats.]
The Irish Volunteers officially stayed out of the new land war, claiming it wasn’t military or political in nature, but local groups sometimes participated. This combined with Sinn Fein’s own land seizures could lead to painful confrontations with police and other anger Irish men, so it was a difficult job balancing non-violent and not starting a mass uprising.
Another tool Sinn Fein used was boycotting. Said to original in Ireland during the Land Wars and used to great affect by Charles Parnell, Sinn Fein boycotted the RIC. This was a serious threat to the British system, decreasing the pool of candidates it could recruit from for the RIC and training the people to view the RIC as “others,” the first step to making a population comfort with violent action.
Boycotting the RIC was an old idea, something Sinn Fein and the Irish Volunteers wanted to implement it as soon as they were released from prison. This became a strong tool of the Volunteers to ostracize those who were betraying the rebel cause by working for the British as well as prepare the citizens for a war mentality.
Conscription crisis
No one yet knew that World War I would be over by November 11th, 1918. British thought she was facing long years of further bitter sacrifices and they needed new blood. They looked at Ireland and its large set of unruly young men itching for a fight and introduced the Military Service bill, extending forced conscription to Ireland-giving the Volunteers a shot in the arm while also uniting the Irish political parties, for the first time ever.
The Sinn Fein, IPP, and the Catholic Church pledged to resist Britain’s efforts to conscript Irishmen. DeValera prepared a statement, meant for Woodrow Wilson, insisting that their resistance was a battle for self-determination and principles of civil liberty, similar to the American’s cause during America’s revolution. The Volunteers planned local actions as well, using the conscription crisis as a springboard for intensive recruiting and introducing the idea of militant resistance into the greater Irish consciousness. The boycott of the RIC increased tenfold during the anti-conscription movement, shocking the police and trapping them in their barracks in locations such as North Tipperary. Women were particularly effective implementers of the boycott. Eventually the boycott was expanded to include those who helped or associated with the police. The boycott didn’t force many police to resign, but it built a belligerent and hateful mindset against the police-allowing for later violence.
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Anti-conscription Rally in Ballaghaderreen County
[Image description: A blur black and white photo of a large gathering of people. They are surrounding a wooden platform where as group of men stand. Above the platform there is a white banner that says: No conscription Stand United]
The Irish Volunteers were not as engaged with the conscription crisis as Sinn Fein, because they still didn’t have a doctrinal strategy in place. Instead, volunteers were told to avoid getting arrested and if the RIC tried to arrest them, to resist. The Volunteers held daily drills and parades and prepared for battle, should the order ever arrive. However, GHQ seemed more concerned with getting rifles and ammunition than ordering a massive uprising. Conscription allowed them to demand that the local area their units controlled give up their guns to the Irish Volunteers. Some Volunteers even bought rifles off RIC or local British soldiers. Lack of guns would be a problem that plagued the IRA through their war with the British. Conscription also saw a spike in people joining the Irish Volunteers. GHQ tried to manage this wave of volunteers by issuing orders regarding how men should be recruits and how they should be vouched for and accepted.
The Irish Volunteers allowed their own soldiers to elect their officers (how could this go wrong?) GHQ seemed to try and curb who could be elected like requiring that they be member of the IRB, but given the haphazard nature these units were created, but it was only somewhat successful, some units merging the Volunteers and IRB men seamlessly, while other companies were dominated by non-IRB men or vice versa.
They threatened mass slaughter should Britain try to enforce conscription and, apparently, there was a plan for Cathal Brugha to lead a group of men to assassin the British cabinet (relying on Collins and Mulcahy-who was now chief of staff-to recruit for this venture).
German Plot
The British back down on conscription in mid-May while also arresting 73 nationalist leaders from May 17-18 under the Defense of the Realm Act, including Eamon DeValera, Constance Markievicz, Arthur Griffith, and William Cosgrave. They claimed there was a German plot i.e., Sinn Fein was working with Germany-like the 1916 rebels did and the 1798 rebels with the French.
It quickly became clear how flimsy the excuse was, that there was scant information, and undermined the government’s credibility in Ireland. It successfully knocked Sinn Fein off its feet for a moment, especially since all nine of the twenty-one members of Sinn Fein’s Standing Committee were arrested, but the British failed to arrest some of the most dangerous rebels such as Collins, Brugha, Mulcahy, and Harry Boland. But in the long run, it boosted Sinn Fein’s cause and destroyed any chance IPP had of reclaiming the national narrative. As Constance Markievicz claimed, "sending you to jail is like pulling out all the loud stops on all the speeches you ever made…our arrests carry so much further than speeches.”
1918 Election
Sinn Fein had won a total of five elections between 1917 and 1918 (De Valera, Count Plunkett, Cosgrave, Patrick MacCartan, and Griffith) and lost two elections. 1918 was their first general election. The election was held on December 14th, 1918, and is considered one of the most important moments in modern Ireland’s history. It was the first election after the end of the First World War and, because of the Representation of the People Act, women over the age of 30 and working-class men over the age of 21 could vote, tripling the Irish electorate from 700,000 in 1910 to 1.93 million in 1918.
The IPP won only 6 seats, the Unionists took 26 seats, and Sinn Fein won 73 seats.
The Sinn Fein victory can be explained in three different ways:
The new electoral: women and working-class men: people who had been hardest hit by the war and the rising and the conscription crisis, as well as the good shortage in 1917.Not only was Sinn Fein and Irish Volunteers campaigning, but Cumann na mBan campaigned hard as well, possible driving people into the arms of Sinn Fein since Sinn Fein stood for a republic which was against everything as it currently was. iSinn Fein’s rivals: the IPP and Labour had been broken by WWI and needed to rebuild themselves and their reputations if they wanted to compete.
The clergy was on Sinn Fein’s side because of conscription. DeValera also went a long way to argue that anti-conscription was not anti-soldiers nor were they ignoring the sacrifice of the Irishmen who had fought in the war so far. But the crime was that Britain sacrificed the best Ireland had for a colonial war.
Curated candidates. Sinn Fein ran those it was confident would win and in seats that would not weaken its own position or risk schism with the Labor movement. Also, there was some election rigging and voter intimidation.
Instead of sitting in parliament, the Sinn Fein candidates would sit in a new parliament: the first Dail of Eireann.
The Dail
The First Dail was formed on January 21st, 1919. It held its first meeting in the Round Room of the Mansion house of Dublin and created a Declaration of Independence and the Dail Constitution. Only 27 minsters appeared because 34 were in jail or on secret missions. Sinn Fein invited the IPP and Unionists to participate but they refused. The declaration of independence ratified the Proclamation of the Republic of Easter Rising and outlined a socialist platform, but it was more of a propaganda message because there was only so much the Dail could realistically achieve while battling England.
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Members of the First Dail
[Image description: A black and white photo of three rows of men. The first row of men are sitting down on chairs, the second and third rows of men are standing. Most men are wearing black suits with white button down shirts and ties. Others are wearing tan or grey jackets. Some men had beards and mustaches, but most are clean shaven. Behind the men is a metal staircase and a white building.]
The constitution was a provisional document and created a ministry of the Dail Eireann. The ministry consisted of a President and five secretaries. First ministers of the Dail were:
Chairperson of the Dail: Cathal Brugha (because DeValera was in jail and Collins and Harry Boland were planning how to break him out)
Minister for Finance: Eoin MacNeill
Minister for Home Affairs: Michael Collins
Minister for Foreign Affairs: Count Plunkett
Minister for National Defense: Richard Mulcahy
The Dail expanded the number of ministers in April. It now included nine ministers within the cabinet and four outside the cabinet as well as a mechanism to create substitute presidents and ministers in the realistic event someone was arrested or killed.
This second ministry members were:
President: DeValera
Secretary for Home Affairs: Arthur Griffith
Secretary for Defense: Cathal Brugha
Secretary for Foreign Affairs: Count Plunkett
Secretary for Labour: Constance Markievicz
Secretary for Industries: Eoin MacNeill
Secretary for Finance: Michael Collins
Secretary for Local Government: W. T. CosgraveAustin Stacks would become minster after his release from jail and then took over as secretary for home affairs after Griffith became deputy president.
Once the Dail was convened, the Irish Volunteers saw themselves as an army of an Irish Republic hence why they named themselves the Irish Republican Army. They were formally renamed the IRA on August 20th, 1919, and took an oath of allegiance to the republic and to serve as a standing army.
On June 18th, 1919, the Dail officially established the Dail courts which were meant to replace the British judiciary. They eventually created several series of courts including a parish-based arbitration courts, district courts, and a supreme court which the people trusted more than the British courts. On June 19th, the Dail approved the First Dail Loan to raise funds they couldn’t raise via taxes. Collins would also create a bond scheme which helped keep the Dail and the IRA financially afloat.
England declared the Dail illegal in September 1919, but it was too little too late to undermine Ireland’s shadow government. DeValera left Ireland to fundraise in the United States, leaving Griffith as his Deputy President. The conduct of the Dail fell to its ministers while the conduct of the war fell to Collins, Mulcahy, Brugha, and the field commanders.
BRIEF Summary of Guerrilla Warfare in Ireland
The IRA would be broken into General Headquarters (GHQ) and local commanders. GHQ was run by Chief of Staff Richard Mulcahy who answered to Cathal Brugha, the Minister of Defense. Mulcahy also worked closely with Michael Collins, Minister of Finance and Intelligence and this amorphous command structure created a lot of tension amongst the three men. While Mulcahy tried to install discipline and standardization from GHQ, he was only partially successful as conditions on the ground often trumped whatever master plan GHQ had cooked up.
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Richard Mulcahy
[Image description: A sepia toned photo of a thin white man with a prominent nose. He is wearing the military cap and uniform of the Irish National Army.]
It's estimated that the IRA had 15,000 members but only 3,000 were active at one time. The members were broken into three groups: unreliable, reliable, and active. Unreliable meant they were members in name only, reliable meant they played a supporting role, and active meant they were full-time fighters. It’s believed at least 1/5 of the active members were assistants and clerks. Skilled workers dominated the recruitment while farmers and agricultural workers were a minority. About 88% percent of the IRA members were under thirty and a majority of them were Catholics. The most active units were in Dublin County and Munster County which includes the cities of Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford.
The local units were supposed to be organized along the lines of a battalion but it was up to the local commanders, who were originally elected by their men. Initially, GHQ tried to assign two to three brigades to a county, but it would take a while before those brigades solidified. For the first year, the IRA could only muster small units, which actually worked in their favor.
Local commanders adopted the “flying columns” method of attack and GHQ eventually gave it their blessing. Flying columns consisted of a permanent roster of soldiers who worked together in small groups in coordinated attacks. The flying columns performed two kinds of attacks: auxiliary and independent
In an auxiliary attack, the flying column was assigned to a battalion as extra support for a large local operation already taking place. In an independent attack, the flying column itself would strike the enemy and retreat. This type of attack included harassing small military camps and police stations, pillaging enemy stories, interrupting communications, and eventually ambushes. The flying columns would become an elite and coveted unit but its soldiers were always on the run and relied on local support to survive.
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Michael Collins
[Image description: A black and white photo of a white man shouting to a large crowd. He is standing outside on a platform, in the middle of a city street. He has short hair and is clean shaven. He is wearing a white shirt and a black suit.]
The IRA would go through two different reorganizations. The first occurred in March 1921. It broke up the brigade structure into small columns, built from experienced men. The brigade staff existed to provide supplier of arms, ammunition, and equipment while battalions provided the men for the columns. During the same reorganization, GHQ broke Ireland up into four different war zones to encourage activity in quieter areas.
In late 1921, the IRA was organized a second time. This time, GHQ created divisions. Division commanders were responsible for large swaths of territory, similar to the war zones created earlier that year. The purpose of the divisional commanders was to increase the likelihood of brigade and battalion coordination, make the IRA feel like it was growing into a real army, but still allowed (and encouraged) independent command, and transplant some of the administrative burden from GHQ to the divisional commanders. This was especially important if something were to happen to GHQ.
You can listen to season 1 to learn about specific battles. For the purpose of this recap, all you really need to know is that the IRA went from singular ambushes lead by ambitious local commanders to coordinated ambushes, assassinations (the most famous being Bloody Sunday carried out by Collins’ personal assassins), prison riots, hunger strikes, and outright assaults on barracks in the rural areas of Ireland. In addition to these military developments, the Dail supported the war effort by retaining the people’s support and maintaining the functionality of the Dail Courts and the Dail Loans.
The British responded by implementing martial law, launching large scale searches and arrests, curfews, roadblocks, and interment on suspicion and by creating the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries. The Black and Tans arrived in Ireland on March 25th, 1920. They were meant to reinforce the RIC and recruited mostly British veterans. They were called black and tans because of their uniform (dark green which appeared black and khaki. They weren’t special forces, just normal reinforcements which may explain why they were known for their brutality and violence. The auxiliaries were founded in July 1920s as a paramilitary unit of the RICs. It consisted of British officers and were meant to serve as a mobile strike and raiding force. 2,300 men served during the war and they were deployed in the southern and western regions of Ireland – where fighting was the heaviest. They were absolute brutes, known for arson and cruelty.
The British wanted to subdue Ireland by the May 1921 election, so they sent over fifty-one battalions of infantry, however, confusion over the military’s role, the RIC’s role, an inability to coordinate amongst the army, RIC, Black and Tans, and Auxiliaries, and the implementation of martial law hurt British efforts.
The IRA were feeling the pressure. In early 1921, they suffered some of their most drastic defeats contributing to poor morale and disgruntlement with the Dail and GHQ. GHQ was losing control over local forces while also trying to maintain a guerrilla war on a shoestring budget. To make matters worse, DeValera returned from America in December 1920 and spent most of 1921 trying to reorganize the IRA and Dail according to his vision. His arrival exasperated already existing tensions amongst several ministers, including Collins, Mulcahy, and Brugha, and threatened to tear the IRA apart from the inside.
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Cathal Brugha
[Image description: A sepia toned photo of a small and thin man in a military uniform and a white button down and stripped tie. He has short hair and is clean shaven. Behind him is a blank white wall.]
Despite all of this, by May 1921, the IRA had reached its peak and the crown forces suffered record losses. From the beginning of 1921 to July, the IRA killed 94 British soldiers and 223 police officers. This was nearly double the totals from the last six months of 1920. This was also when the IRA launched their most ambitious attacks such as their attack on the Shell factory which amounted to 88,000 pounds in damage and their assault on the Dublin Custom House destroying the inland revenue, stamp office, and stationery office records. In addition to these attacks, the IRA increased the number and sophistication of their attacks in what is now Northern Ireland. However, these attacks could be self-defeating as they only enraged the Ulster Volunteers and left the Catholic population at the mercy of angry Unionists. These attacks would convince the British that Ireland was already partitioned (even if Sinn Fein and the IRA refused to acknowledge the fact) and it was in their interest to protect Northern Ireland from IRA incursions. This meant another army and more money that could have been spent elsewhere.
It was clear that neither side could win this conflict through military efforts alone.
References:
The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence by Charles Townshend, 2014, Penguin Group
Fatal Path: British Government and Irish Revolution 1910-1922by Ronan Fanning, 2013, Faber & Faber
Richard Mulcahy: From the Politics of War to the Politics of Peace, 1913-1924 by Padraig O Caoimh, 2018, Irish Academic Press
A Nation and Not a Rabble: the Irish Revolution 1913-1923by Diarmaid Ferriter, 2015, Profile Books
Eamon DeValera by Ronan Fanning, 2016, Harvard University Press
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morbidology · 2 years
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On 29 July, 1849, Kate Webster was born in Killane, County Wexford, Ireland. As a child, she was often caught stealing and this kleptomania would follow her through to her teenage years and eventually onto adulthood. As a teenager, Webster managed to steal enough money so that she could sail from her home town in Ireland to Liverpool. For the next five years, she survived solely on stolen money and goods. That was until she was caught pickpocketing and sentenced to four years behind bars at the age of just eighteen. 
Following her release, she travelled to London where she was able to land a job as a charwoman. On top of this, she slept with men for money, eventually becoming pregnant and giving birth to a son. After the birth, Webster was back to her old tricks, only this time she escalated to robbing boarding houses. Over the next few years, Webster was arrested numerous times and served a number of prison sentences. 
After her release in 1877, Webster managed to get employed as a maid for Mrs Julia Martha Thomas, a wealthy widow from Richmond, Surrey, who appeared completely oblivious to her criminal history. Initially, the relationship between the two women was a pleasant one but soon enough Webster fell back into her old rebellious ways; she spent more time in the local pub causing havoc than performing her au pair duties. Thomas expressed to her friends that she had become fearful of Webster and her friends urged her to fire Webster.
On 2 May, 1879, Thomas explained that she wouldn’t be needing Webster’s help around the house any more and that she should pack her things and leave. Webster agreed that she would leave the house after she attending church. Enraged by what was taking place, Webster arrived back to the house from church and went up to the bedroom where Thomas was taking off her church hat. Webster burst through the door, armed with an axe, and struck the unsuspecting Thomas. 
In an attempt to escape, Thomas managed to struggle her way to the landing where Webster pushed her down the stairs. Running down after her, Webster struck the final blow into Thomas’ head. She then dragged her lifeless body into the kitchen where she began to butcher the body. She then reached for a large pot and boiled the dismembered body: “I determined to do away with the body as best I could. I chopped the head from the body with the assistance of a razor which I used to cut through the flesh afterwards. I also used the meat saw and the carving knife to cut the body up with. I prepared the copper with water to boil the body to prevent identity; and as soon as I had succeeded in cutting it up I placed it in the copper and boiled it. I opened the stomach with the carving knife, and burned up as much of the parts as I could,” she would later disturbingly recall.
 When the body was boiled, she drained off all of the liquid and put it into jars. She packed the dismembered remains into a Gladstone bag and then a wooden box. Unable to fit the severed head into the box, she buried it under a pub’s stables, where it was miraculously discovered 131 years later when Sir David Attenborough was having construction work done on his home which stood where the pub’s stables once stood.
 Ever the entrepreneur, Webster even attempted to sell the jars of reduced body fat as “best dripping.” Webster then had an old friend, Robert Porter, help her carry the box to the Thames, where she threw it in. The box containing Thomas’ boiled remains was discovered the following day by horrified fishermen. As the police were closing in on Webster, she fled back to Ireland where she was arrested by the Royal Irish Constabulary; she was wearing Thomas’ clothing and jewelry.
 She was charged with the brutal murder and denied any involvement. That was until the day of her execution when she freely confessed to the murder. She was hanged on 29 July, 1879.
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georgefairbrother · 2 years
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On August 14th, 1969, the Harold Wilson (Labour) government sent the military into Northern Ireland in what they described as a limited operation to restore law and order. Three hundred troops from the First Battalion, Prince of Wales’ Own Regiment of Yorkshire, occupied the centre of Londonderry, supporting the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
The move was in response to three days of violent clashes in Bogside, and other areas of Northern Ireland including Belfast itself, following the (Protestant Unionist) Apprentice Boys march.
The BBC reported;
"…The Royal Ulster Constabulary were forced to use tear gas - for the first time in their history - to try to bring the rioting under control. But tensions mounted with the mobilisation of the B Specials. The special constables, who are armed and mostly part-time, were supposed to help the RUC restore order - but they are regarded with deep suspicion by the Roman Catholics…"
According to reports, the apparently temporary deployment of British troops was initially welcomed by the Catholic communities, however the mood changed as more and more troops arrived. By the mid-1970s there were over 20 000 British soldiers deployed in Northern Ireland.
BBC;
"…As more British troops were deployed in Northern Ireland, fresh questions were raised about the role of Westminster. Although the army in Northern Ireland came under the control of the Secretary of State for Defence in London, many Catholics saw it as a tool of the Unionist Government in Stormont…"
In 1971, the Northern Ireland government (Stormont) introduced the highly contentious policy of internment, pre-emptive imprisonment without trial and often on evidence The Irish Times described as seriously faulty.
The Irish Times;
"…Internment without trial, called Operation Demetrius, was introduced in Northern Ireland by the Stormont unionist government early on the morning of August 9th 1971. It involved mass British army arrests of more than 340 people from Catholic and nationalist  backgrounds. The then unionist prime minister Brian Faulkner said it was designed to smash the IRA. Approval for internment was given to Faulkner by the British (Conservative) Home Secretary Reginald Maudling who was said to be unenthusiastic about the move but feared a loyalist backlash if he did not act…Almost 2,000 people were interned up until its ending in December 1975. It is estimated that just over 100 were loyalists…"
Some internees were subjected to what was officially referred to as interrogation in depth, a practice initially described as torture by the European Court on Human Rights, however following an appeal from the British Government, the wording was changed to inhuman and degrading treatment.
In 1972, British Prime Minister Edward Heath (Conservative), suspended Stormont and imposed direct rule.
Internment was discontinued in 1975. 
The official deployment of British troops finally ended in 2007.
Sources (facts and images): BBC On This Day, The Irish Times.
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stairnaheireann · 3 months
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#OTD in 1969 – Death of Politician and IRA leader during the War of Independence and Civil War, Dan Breen.
Dan Breen was an iconic IRA figure in both the War of Independence and also the Civil War. Breen was involved in what is accepted as the first action of the War of Independence (1919-1921) when with Sean Treacy and others, he ambushed and killed two RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) constables James McDonnell and Patrick O’Connell, both of them Catholic and reputedly popular in the community in what…
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disappointingyet · 10 months
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Odd Man Out
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Director Carol Reed Stars James Mason, Kathleen Ryan, Robert Newton UK 1947 Language English 1hr 56mins Black & white
IRA man on the run in one, long, very strange day and evening in Belfast
This is a much stranger film than I thought it was going to be. How? Maybe two-thirds of the way through what could be described as a man-on-the-run thriller, we get the arrival of the second-billed actor, Robert Newton, playing a hugely eccentric and obsessive painter of fevered, El Greco-ish portraits. He lives in a vast, seemingly semi-abandoned house with two other weird guys. At this point, the film started reminding me a lot more of After Hours than I would have expected. 
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Or how about the fact that this is a British-made film from 1947 whose central character – one who seems to be treated as something like a religious martyr – is an Irish republican freedom fighter/terrorist, and the antagonist is an officer in the Royal Ulster Constabulary.  
Or that you’ve got a big star actor, but for important sections of the story, he’s slumped passed out in one of various hiding places.
There’s more, but that would go heavily into spoiler territory. 
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The film starts during the final preparation of a heist. The man in charge is Johnny McQueen (James Mason), the leader of something referred to in the film as The Organisation but which I think we can understand as the IRA. This is to be McQueen’s return to action after escaping from prison and then laying low for six months. There’s scepticism from various characters about whether Johnny is ready for a mission, and he privately expresses some doubts about whether the armed struggle is the way forward, but he insists on leading the raid anyway. 
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Of course, it goes wrong and Johnny is ends up wounded and alone on the streets of Belfast. Based on the idea of the film and what I remembered from having seen bits of it, I thought Odd Man Out would mostly follow McQueen as he tries to stay alive and free. Instead, we cut between that and the attempts to find him by the other members of organisation, by the RUC, later by the inhabitants of the big strange house, and (most importantly) by Kathleen (Kathleen Ryan), who is in love with him. 
Odd Man Out was directed by Carol Reed, who two years later would make what’s generally accepted as the greatest British film noir, The Third Man. This is recognisably the work of the same director plus cinematographer (Robert Krasker). It opens with a long aerial shot flying over Belfast and then for a few minutes, it looked older than it is and a bit stagey. But it doesn’t take long to reach full noir mode, with some great shots of alleyways plus inventive moments of Johnny’s hallucinations. 
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This is not a lean, taut thriller. For instance, we get what felt to me a very long discussion between Kathleen and Father Tom (WG Fay), which broadly pits a noir existentialism versus the teachings of the church. And, as I mentioned, there’s all the stuff with Lukey (Newton), who arrives with enormous camera-hogging energy just at the point where you might anticipate the story coming to an end. But I think it is atmospheric enough, immersive enough, to keep the audience hooked. 
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Maybe my biggest gripe is that this isn’t the best use of James Mason – I think he’s at his most effective when deploying his charm (whether acting for or against the forces of good) and we don’t get much of that here 
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This is a film about Belfast, but not one made by people from Belfast. The director and the writers were English.* The cast is mostly a mixture of actors from southern Ireland and Brits, with the ones playing locals seemingly aiming for southern Irish accents too. The exceptions are a group of children who hang out on the pavements and who you can tell instantly actually did come from Belfast. 
I have a major weakness for movies that take place over a short space of time. I’m a big fan of film noir, and of James Mason. Which is to say, I was massively predisposed to like Odd Man Out, and I did enjoy it, but it is so much weirder than you might think.
*Minor spoiler: at one point Johnny is taken in by some English people, who eventually work out who he is and who treat him with some sympathy while expressing the idea that the politics of this place is none of their business. 
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pwlanier · 2 years
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1916 A Sinn Féin Tricolour Flag flown over one of the buildings occupied by the Irish Volunteers during the Rising.
A Sinn Féin tricolour flag, home-made, assembled from panels of green, white and orange cloth, with the words 'Sinn Fein go Deo' (Sinn Fein Forever) above a spray of shamrock, painted in green onto the central panel. Recovered from Dublin Castle yard where it had been dumped by British troops with weapons, equipment and uniforms surrendered by Irish Volunteers at the end of the Rising. It was recovered from the Castle Yard by James Hayes, an accounts clerk in the Royal Irish Constabulary office in the Castle. An extremely rare fully provenanced flag of the 1916 Rising, of immense historical importance.
Whyte’s
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On this day, 14 April 1919 in Limerick, Ireland, a general strike was declared in protest against the declaration by the British military of a ‘special military area’ in the region, which led to the establishment of a soviet (workers' council). The military crackdown was in response to an attempt to an attempted jailbreak of trade unionist and Irish Republican Army volunteer Robert J Byrne, which ended with the death of Byrne as well as two police constables. The military zone prevented freedom of movement for everyone other than people issued special permits by the British Army and the Royal Irish Constabulary – including many workers who needed to enter in order to go to work. A strike began in protest at the move by workers at the condensed milk factory in Lansdowne on Saturday, April 12, and that evening workers gathered and decided to call for a general strike beginning at 5 AM on Monday, April 14. 15,000 walked out and by the following day everything was shut down except for banks, public services, and enterprises given permits by the strike committee which had been established. The workers then took control of the town, closing down the pubs, maintaining order, and arranging for the distribution of food which was brought in from around Ireland and from trade unions in Britain. The strike committee set up its own newspaper and then printed its own money, while the British troop presence in the area increased. On April 27, with Irish capitalists and British trade union leaders withdrawing their support for the soviet, it was declared over with the promise that the special military designation would be withdrawn seven days later, which it was. More information and sources: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8537/limerick-general-strike-&-soviet https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=608531627986723&set=a.602588028581083&type=3
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theirishaesthete · 2 years
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A Typical Example
This handsome early 19th century residence stands at one end of Barrack Street in Killala, County Mayo. Of three bays and two storeys, for a period during the pre-Independence period it provided accommodation for members of the Royal Irish Constabulary but of late has stood empty and falling into dereliction, like so many other historic houses in Irish regional towns (further down the same…
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